Foley not fazed by Crusaders

Waratahs fly-half Bernard Foley is not worried about his team's record against the Crusaders ahead of Saturday's final in Sydney.

Waratahs fly-half Bernard Foley is not worried about his team's record against the Crusaders ahead of Saturday's final in Sydney.

The Crusaders have beaten the Sydneysiders in their last 11 meetings - a statistic which doesn't seem to bother Foley as he has only played against the men from Christchurch once.

"It's more [relevant] that you're in the grand final," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"If it's tight at the end you have to step up.

"We just have to have belief in the players that everyone's going to do their job.

"If it's not good enough on the night, then we'll sit back and lick our wounds, but if it is, that would be pretty successful."

Foley's only previous clash against the seven-time champions saw the Waratahs leading 22-10 for most of the match but Dan Carter slotted several penalties to give the home side a 23-22 victory in Christchurch last year.

The Waratahs had a chance to win the game at the death but missed a match-winning kick after the hooter had sounded.

Foley's first encounter against the Crusaders left him with bad memories, something which he doesn't want to repeat this weekend.

"We were up 15-5 at half-time, then they came back and won by one point [23-22]," he added.

"We were unlucky to lose that one I thought, [I] thought we'd done enough to win, but [Dan Carter] showed some pretty good composure at the end there and won it for them."

Carter wasn't at his best from the kicking tee in the Crusaders' semi-final win over the Sharks, but there was nothing wrong with the rest of his game and he has subsequently been called up to the All Blacks squad for the upcoming Rugby Championship.

Foley knows Carter's performance will have a huge bearing on Saturday's result.

"[Carter]'s got all the class and all the experience you can want in a footballer, he's world-best and he's been there for a long time," said Foley.

"His composure and ability to influence a game and control the match, to do it on their terms, is a massive strength of theirs."